Teradyne Assigned Patent

Teradyne, Inc., North Reading, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,238,099) developed by Brian S. Merrow, Harvard, MA, for an "enclosed operating area for disk drive testing systems."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A disk drive testing system includes one or more test racks, and one or more test slots housed by the one or more test racks, each test slot being configured to receive and support a disk drive transporter carrying a disk drive for testing. The disk drive testing system also includes a transfer station for supplying disk drives to be tested. The one or more test racks and the transfer station at least partially define an operating area. The disk drive testing system can also include automated machinery that is disposed within the operating area and is configured to transfer disk drives between the transfer station and the one or more test slots, and a cover at least partially enclosing the operating area, thereby at least partially inhibiting air exchange between the operating area and an environment surrounding the test racks."

The patent application was filed on April 17, 2008 (12/105,041).